KEY POINTS:
Eleven New Zealand firefighters injured and forced to run for their lives while battling Australian bushfires two years ago were put at risk by bad management decisions, a new report reveals.
The team, helping out their Australian counterparts near Mansfield in north-east Victoria were caught in a wildfire flare-up on December 16, 2006.
Six needed hospital treatment for their injuries but all have since recovered and returned to normal duties.
A report compiled by fire authorities in both countries and obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has criticised management of the team.
It showed they were working on a steep slope with the fire below them and unburnt ground in between.
Athol Hodgson, a former chief fire officer of Australia's Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands, said the crew should never have been sent into the area.
"The people in charge of the situation knew the night before, in fact they knew the day before, that the fire had crossed Steiner's Road," he said.
"They knew there was unburnt country below the road.
"Someone should have reviewed the situation the night before and said `no, it's not on'."
Mr Hodgson said that broke one of the most basic rules of firefighting.
"Firefighters around the world have died because they've been working uphill of an uncontrolled fire below them."
However, the Department of Sustainability and Environment's (DSE) assistant chief fire officer, Liam Fogarty, said the decisions of the fire authorities did not substantially contribute to the incident.
"Ultimately it was an assessment of local area risks and not quite taking on board the complexity of the environment they were working in," he said.
A report compiled by both the DSE and the Victoria Country Fire Authority, released last July, found that the main contributing factor in the men's predicament was difficulties authorities had in determining the main fire's potential, and the limited escape routes available to the men.
This was exacerbated by the unavailability of aerial support and reconnaissance due to "extensive demand" by other firefighters in the area. This compromised the accuracy of fire mapping.
It did, however, acknowledge that "insufficient regard" was given to intelligence from the fire sector commander on the day before the incident.
At the time that report was released, New Zealand national rural fire officer Murray Dudfield said it was clear that the crew leaders involved had acted quickly and with "a high level of intelligence and professionalism" when the extent of the threat to their teams became apparent.
- NZPA
